Note: This review was written by me, Saffire Persian. So don’t take without asking, nor call this review your own. Also, there are a few picture links in this review, hosted on my Photobucket. The pictures were taken from Gamespot, and I just resized them so they’d look a bit better. So pics belong to them, not me. They are used purely for example purposes. If there’s a certain review on a game (RPG preferably) that you’d like to see me write, PM me. Otherwise I will just write reviews on games I choose myself. Comments/critiques on this review’s welcome. If I can improve/change something for future reviews, feel free to let me know. I’m a beginner at this.
Tales of Symphonia
Possibly the best RPG to ever grace the GameCube
Overview:
Platform: GameCube/PS2 (Japan Only)
Genre: RPG (Role-Playing Game)
ESRB Rating: T for Teen (Due to Fantasy Violence, Language, and Suggestive Themes).
Publisher: Namco
Original US Release Date: July 13, 2004
Players: 1 (up to 4, but only in battle)
Average hours to beat main storyline: 30-40
Pros:
• Fun, immersive battle system.
• No random battles!
• Pretty good AI
• Stereotypical, but good storyline
• Extremely customizable
• Lots of side quests
• Diverse character line up – with personalities!
• Great voice acting
• Cheap (You can buy it now for around $20)
• Skits!
• Unique cooking system
Cons
• Can be extremely easy at times
• The overworld could use some work
• Somewhat stereotypical storyline (both a pro and a con)
• Many of the monsters in the game are rehashes of a previous foe, just with a different color.
Well, I’m sure we’ve all heard the moans and groans and a general gnashing of teeth from RPG lovers everywhere over the apparent lack of RPGs on Nintendo’s newest gaming system. (Soon to be replaced by the Wii later on in the year).
Hate to break it to you, but this statement is quite genuine. The terrible truth of the matter is quickly brought quickly to light once you attempt to compare the number of PS2 RPG titles (The Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, and Xenosaga series, Dark Cloud, Atelier Iris…just to name a few) to the GameCube’s extremely small roster (Skies of Arcadia, Baten Kaitos, Paper Mario…). So all that moaning, groaning and gnashing of teeth is very much justified, and I hear you!... Though Nintendo obviously can't take much of a hint here, as the number of RPGs are no better than they were last year.
However! (Yes, that exclamation point was necessary) for all you RPG-lovin’ GameCube owners out there (I know you’re around!), the GameCube is exclusively home (in the United States anyway…but lets not go into that -) to one of the best RPGs of all time: Tales of Symphonia.
Tales of Symphonia (abbreviated henceforward as ToS or Symphonia) starts out in the land of Sylvarant where our forever brave and stubborn sixteen-year-old protagonist, Lloyd Irving, starts on his journey to aid his friend, Collette Brunel, the Chosen of Mana, along with a few other ‘comrades’ in her quest to "regenerate the world". (This is all done because of an order from the Church of Martel, bytheway. So religion-esque themes are present.) Now, if Colette succeeds on her pilgramage without getting eaten by monsters along the way, and journeys to each of the holy temples to slowly turn into an angel, she’ll successfully save Sylvarant from deteriorating, due to the lack of mana and whatnot.
Now, I ask you, does this plot sound suspiciously familiar?
It should, but in case it doesn’t, let me sum it up in three words: Final Fantasy X.
Yes, the plot has many similarities to its Final Fantasy X counterpart. Let us count the ways, shall we?
Pilgrimage:
Check
Temples to go to:
Check
Save the world and its people from suffering an incredibly agonizing death:
Check.
Bodyguards (Guardians) to protect you from getting killed along the way:
Check!
And a few other similarities that I won’t go into. So yes, this is less than an original plot – at first anyway. (I say at first as the plot does change quite a bit along the way).
However, just because it ain’t the most original thing since FF I came into being, doesn’t mean it isn’t a game not worth playing. In fact, it is a game that is worth every wasted hour in front of that television. The plot, stereotypical as it may seem, is never boring. The characters are rich and vibrant and memorable, with many, many scenes that will invoke a variety of emotions. The towns are worth exploring and nicely created (the overworld is not… but we’ll go into that later) and the battle system is extremely well developed – all these things make the game fun.
Lets go in more on the characters, shall we? They are what made the game for me. Symphonia has a complex, diverse cast (Including Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves… and yes, Humans). Each character throughout the storyline is developed, and each party member has a different, distinct personality that is put to good use. Battle-wise, each character is unique in some way or another. Lloyd is you resident (double) sword-wielding protagonist, Raine is your standard healer, and Genis is your (not so everyday) mage whose age does not restrict his talent – and more besides. So every character (Yes, even Colette, dangit!) has a use in your party. You’ll probably have your favorites though, and you’ll likely leave the other characters doomed to rot in your ‘non-participating’ party slots. We’ll hope not, as it’s a shame, but that’s the way life goes. Luckily for you, even the party members that do not participate in battle do gain experience (methink it's 90-100% of it… but I’ll have to check on that.) So no worries about you having to level-up a certain characters madly once you discover that you actually need him/her.
The voice acting in Symphonia is extremely well done. In my opinion each voice fit the person they portrayed. Even Colette, with her… erm.. “extremely cheery” voice, was well placed. And though some people might find her voice irksome (I didn’t really) I felt it really fit the character to a tee. Not to mention that we actually have a few well known voice actors in the fray helps. Tara Strong (Raven in Teen Titans, Rikku in FFX/X-2) , Cam Clarke (Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid) and Crispin Freeman (Albel in Star Ocean 3, Albedo in Xenosaga I/II) are just a few of the notables that make up the cast. And you’ll be very pleased about it, as Symphonia features many hours of voiced cutscenes.
You also have a chance to “get to know” the characters even more through one of ToS’s funnest (*knows it's not a word*) additions: Skits.
Skits are optional cutscenes (that are triggered randomly throughout your journey in towns, dungeons, and the overworld (So…everywhere). They can be from general everyday topics (Cooking), or on a specific thing that’s occurring during the time in the storyline. These can be activated by pressing the ‘Z’ button when the skit symbol comes up – so there’s no need to view them if you don’t want to. These really lend to the character development and are generally quite entertaining. They are unvoiced, however. But with the number of skits ranging in the hundreds I don’t blame them.
The battle system is another highlight of this RPG game – and for many, this is what makes the game an RPG favorite. For one thing that I’m sure everyone’s happy about, is that there are no random battles! Nope, none at all. You get to choose who you pick a fight with, and who you…erm don’t. There are very few exceptions, the only trick is that you have to avoid them before them come running after you. (Note: Some are faster than others).
The battle system similar itself is incredibly similar to Star Ocean 3’s. So if you’ve played it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, I’m talking about a real-time battle system (no choosing attacks from a menu and waiting for your turn to hit something) where you can attack whomever you want in whatever ways are available to you – and there are many. However, unlike Star Ocean 3, you are unable to participate in fully “3-D” movement. Oh, the arenas (which are much smaller than Star Ocean’s) enemies, and your party are fully 3-D, but your movement is restricted to the 2nd Dimension. As in, you can only move forwards and backwards. (So, no running around and stabbing monster from the side… sorry.)
Even with these limitations, battles are a blast. You’re able to execute a number of different techniques and combinations, scoring more damage the higher the combo. You’re even able to have team up with party members for a “Unison Attack” once the meter fills up. There’s even an overlimit your characters will go into at random times, during which your character will deal more damage to the opponent (or, in the Summoner’s case, you can summon monsters).
It’s also worth mentioning that you’re not stuck with controlling Lloyd in battle either. If you choose, you can control one of the other party members during (and even outside) of battle. So if you’re incredibly tired and bored of stabbing, slashing, and hacking with Lloyd, you can instead
control young Genis Sage and roast monsters with large pillars of fire, lightning, and what-have-you at will. The rest of your four-member party is controlled by a very customizable AI system (or your friends!).
Ah, and if you’re worried about this AI system making our resident party members behave stupidly. (I.e. whacking the gigantic, fire breathing dragon with a puny staff [which, by the way, does nil damage] and getting killed in the process), don’t. You generally won’t have to worry about that, due to the level of customization the system offers you. You customize your characters while going in the menu and customizing how you want the character to behave. For instance, choosing the “Heal Allies” option makes that character concentrate on healing spells, using them when your party takes damage. You can also customize the AI’s general consumption of Tech Points (Symphonia’s version of MP), and what enemy they will concentrate on attacking (or not). Granted, just because you have all these options doesn’t mean you won’t have to step in and save everyone’s butts once in awhile. The system is good, but not completely AI idiot-proof.
You can further customize how a character grows and what stats are heightened by the use of “Titles”, such as Lloyd’s “Master Swordsman”. These titles can be changed at any given time and give bonuses in certain stat areas. You earn some automatically as the storyline progresses or through random events (such as sidequests).
You can help choose what kind of attacks your characters will learn by equipping exspheres which push the character towards the “Technical” (the Elemental) side or the Strike (Physical) side. This also can be changed at any time.
The difficulty of Symphonia is not that high – in fact, it’s pretty easy proceeding through the main storyline. Not so ridiculously easy that you won’t die at least once, though. Even so, it doesn’t present a huge challenge for lovers who enjoy good, hard as heck fights, providing, that is, you have up to date equipment, moves, and items and at a modest level. If you don’t, you’re screwed. Simple as that. So don't expect to breeze through the game, not fighting anything, and expect to win a boss fight with a clean bill of heath and a smile on your face. Won't happen. In fact, you'll most likely lose.
For those of you who do love tough battles, there are a few very difficult bosses/monsters in the game, most of these are optional. If you’re looking for Emerald Weapon-sized battles, length-wise, you're probably not going to find them here. The battles are short, sweet, and to the point. The longest battle I ever fought was with the optional boss (Who *was* hard), which added up to fifeteenish minutes total – the fastest being five seconds, if you’re curious.
There are also a number of puzzles in the ‘dungeons’ of Symphonia. These puzzles are usually solved by using an object called the “Sorcerer’s Ring” which lets you perform a variety of actions, dependant on what dungeon you are trudging through at the time. There are a few more difficult ones, but for the most part, the puzzles aren’t hard enough to seriously strain your brain over to solve. A bit challenging, yes. Hard, no. Most are kept at an acceptable length, neither too short nor too long *coughunlikeStarOcean3’scough*). Some are even quite fun. In one place, for instance, you use the Sorcerer’s ring to shrink yourself, and take on rats that are by now, huge, formidable opponents instead of beings you can just kick n’ kill in one hit.
Speaking of optional, there are plenty of side quests in Symphonia. They range from making and collecting figurines, finding all the cooking recipes, to the usual character-driven quests. You’re talking about many, many hours of side quests here – easily ranging to the 60+ hours, while the main storyline in and of itself is only about 30-40 hours. (I beat it in 33).
Cooking’s another rather unique (optional) part about the Tales series. You can cook your own food (which can restore HP, TP, cure poison, etc.) using ingredients you buy or find. You use recipes you attain from the “Wonder Chief” (geeky name, I know) to cook these. Keep in mind that some characters are better cooking things than others are. (Have Raine cook, and watch the skit that’s triggered afterwards XD). The recipes range from simple to complex, including the tried and true sandwich to amazing roasted chicken.
Even when you’ve fully completed the game, they have a Game + option that lets you have some added bonuses (such as increased difficulty, 1/3 more EXP, etc) for the next new game. These bonuses are bought with the grade you earned in the game during battles. And this is something you’ll definitely want to take advantage of. There are also a number different endings in Symphonia, as well as different outcomes to different scenes that can only be seen in multiple play thoughts. (There’s only one road that extremely differs from the others, though). These scenes which happen are fully dependant on the affection level other characters have for Lloyd. (Yes, there’s an affection system here.) Depending on what the other character’s relationships are with Lloyd can and
will affect you’re ending. So choose carefully whom you’re nice (or mean) to.
Symphonia is very heavily animé influenced, so there are also a few high-quality animé cutscenes scattered in a few places about the game. To be frank, there’s only two -- not counting the nicely animated opening sequence.
The music in the game is rather standard. Composed Motoi Sakuraba (who has pretty much done the music for almost all the Tales games, and other titles such as Golden Sun, Star Ocean, and Baten Kaitos.) it meets the games expectations, though there’s nothing too incredible, (Save for 5-8 tracks).
The graphics are nice, though not half as pretty as the Final Fantasy series. They feature 3-D, cell-shaded graphics that are pleasing enough to the eye, and cities are well designed and fun to explore around. (Heck, even the sewers are interesting). The only qualm I have is with the Overworld. With all the traveling you do (mostly on foot for the first half of the game) the Overworld is completely and utterly uninspired. Nothing’s really unique, featuring standard looking green terrain and mountains. Monsters are extremely laughable here. They look like gigantic black globs with legs or just plain
ugly globs of sludge with eyes. Luckily, when you initiate a battle with them, their ugliness goes away (usually) and replaced with the usual monster avatars for the current area. However, this is pretty much my only big complaint, and it can be easily overlooked.
In closing, I’d like to say that this is an awesome game that is a must-buy for any serious gamer. Symphonia’s graphics are awesome, its story is entertaining, with witty script and dialogue, and it has an amazing battle system that never gets old. Its faults are few, and usually overridden by all the pros the game has, and helps keep its replay value up.
So in short: if you like RPGs play it. If you don’t, try it anyway. It might just convert you.
Final Score: 9.3/10
